Secretary of Labor obo Samuel Coleman v. Warrior Met Coal Mining, LLC

Plain-English summary

Samuel Coleman served as a designated miners' representative at Warrior Met Coal's No. 7 Mine. The Secretary alleged that Coleman questioned a supervisor about another miner's reported safety concerns and termination, said he would inspect the area, and raised a reflective-clothing issue before being suspended the next day and later terminated for asserted insubordination. Warrior Met Coal did not request a hearing on the temporary-reinstatement application. The judge found the unrebutted allegations sufficient to show that the complaint was not frivolously brought, without deciding its ultimate merits. Coleman was ordered immediately reinstated to his former positions with his prior pay, overtime, and benefits.

Decision snapshot

• Cited authority: 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(2)
• Outcome: Samuel Coleman was ordered immediately temporarily reinstated.
• Key point: Unrebutted allegations linking miners' representative activity to a prompt suspension and discharge met the nonfrivolous standard for interim relief.

Full text (FMSHRC public release)

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

1331 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., N.W., SUITE 520N

WASHINGTON, DC 20004-1710

TELEPHONE: 202-434-9900 / FAX: 202-434-9949

|
SECRETARY OF LABOR MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (MSHA), on behalf of SAMUEL COLEMAN, Complainant
v.
WARRIOR MET COAL MINING, LLC, Respondent |
|
|
TEMPORARY REINSTATEMENT
Docket No. SE 2024-0060 MSHA Case No. SE-MD-24-03
Mine: No. 7 Mine Mine ID: 01-01401 |

ORDER OF TEMPORARY REINSTATEMENT

Before: Judge Sullivan

This
case is before me upon an Application for Temporary Reinstatement filed by the Secretary
of Labor pursuant to section 105(c)(2) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health
Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. § 801, et seq., and 29 C.F.R. § 2700.45. On
December 1, 2023, the Secretary filed the Application on behalf of miner and
designated Miners’ Representative Samuel Coleman (“Complainant”) seeking his
reinstatement to his former positions of Underground Belt Repairman and Miners’
Representative at the No. 7 Mine of Warrior Met Coal, LLC (“Respondent”). The
certificate of service states that the Application was served on Respondents by
e-mail that same day. The Application also satisfies the other
procedural requirements of Commission Rule 45(b) as it timely “states the Secretary’s finding that the
miner’s discrimination complaint was not frivolously brought[,] accompanied by
an affidavit setting forth the Secretary’s reasons supporting his finding[,]
and includes a copy of the miner’s complaint to the Secretary . . . .” 29
C.F.R. § 2700.45(b).[1]

Commission
Procedural Rule 45(d) provided Respondent with the right to, within 10 days of
receipt of the Application, request an expedited hearing on the Application. See
29 C.F.R. § 2700.45(d). Respondent elected not to do so.

Section 105(c)(1) of the Mine Act provides that “[n]o person shall discharge . . . any miner . . . because such miner . . . has filed or made a complaint under or related to this Act, including a complaint notifying the operator . . . of an alleged danger or safety or health violation in a . . . mine . . . .” 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(1). In the Application, as supported by her investigator’s sworn declaration (Exhibit A thereto), the following unrebutted allegations of the Secretary establish the Complaint to her as having been not frivolously brought under sections 105(c)(1) and (2):

(1) Before his employment
was terminated on October 30, 2023, Complainant had worked for Respondent as an
underground coal miner for over four years.~~ ~~

(2) In May 2023, the miners at the No. 7 Mine, pursuant to 30 C.F.R. § 40, designated Complainant as their Miner’s Representative for purposes of the Mine Act.

(3) On October 17, 2023, Zachiah Mann, an underground miner at the No. 7 Mine, reported to Complainant that Mann’s supervisor, Neil Almacen, had removed danger tape where timbers were down and had instructed Mann to remove rocks underneath a moving belt. Mann informed Complainant that he refused to do so and alleged that he was terminated for complaining to Almacen about those safety issues.

(4) Complainant, in his role as designated Miners’ Representative, questioned Almacen about Mann’s account of events. Almacen responded that “Mann walked off the job and I fired his ass.” Complainant informed Almacen that he would inspect the area that Mann had complained about, and that if the problems had not been corrected, there would be a safety issue.

(5) Complainant also told Almacen that he had seen him traveling through the mine without required reflective clothing.

(6) The following day, October 18, Complainant was suspended by Respondent’s Human Resources Representative, Sally Brown, on Almacen’s allegation to upper management that Complainant had told Almacen that “someone was going to beat [his] ass.” On October 30, Respondent terminated Complainant, on the purported ground of insubordination.

There being no opposition to the
Application, I agree with the Secretary that it establishes the Complaint to
have been “not frivolously brought.” See Jim Walters Res., Inc. v. FMSHRC,
920 F.2d 738, 747 (11th Cir. 1990) (relying upon Mine Act legislative history
and the Supreme Court’s treatment of a similar whistleblower protection
provision to conclude that the “not frivolously brought” standard is the
equivalent of a “reasonable cause to believe” standard and is met when a
miner’s “complaint appears to have merit”). Accordingly, the Application is
granted. I reach no conclusion beyond that regarding the merits of the
Complaint.

ORDER

It is hereby ORDERED that SAMUEL COLEMAN be immediatelyTEMPORARILY REINSTATED to his former positions at the No. 7 Mine at
his former rate of pay, overtime, and all benefits he was receiving at the time
of his termination.

This Order SHALL remain in effect until such time as
there is a final determination in this matter by hearing and decision, approval
of settlement, or other order of this court or the Commission.

I
retain jurisdiction over this temporary reinstatement proceeding. 29 C.F.R. § 2700.45(e)(4).
The Secretary SHALL provide a report on the status of the underlying
discrimination complaint no later than January 29, 2024.[2] Counsel for the Secretary SHALL
also immediately notify my office of any settlement or of any determination
that the Respondent did not violate Section 105(c) of
the Act.

WHEREFORE, the Application
is GRANTED, and it is ORDERED that reinstatement shall remain in effect until such time that the Secretary
provides notification that he will not be bringing a discrimination case in
chief on behalf of the Complainant, or such a case is brought and there is a
final determination on it by decision, approval of settlement, or other order
of this court or the Commission. I retain
jurisdiction over this temporary reinstatement proceeding for such purposes as
are necessary, as provided by 29 C.F.R. § 2700.45(e)(4).

WHEREFORE, the Secretary is
further ORDERED to provide an update regarding the status of the
Secretary’s investigation of the Complaint no later than January 29, 2024.

/s/ John T.
Sullivan

John T. Sullivan

Administrative Law Judge

Distribution:

Colleen E. Howard & Jean C. Abreu, Office of the
Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Room 7T10,
Atlanta, GA 30303 ([email protected])
([email protected])

Atlanta Docket ([email protected])

W. Brock Phillips & John B. Holmes, III, MAYNARD NEXSEN,
P.C., 1901 Sixth Avenue North, Suite 1700, Birmingham, AL 35203 ([email protected]) ([email protected])

Samuel Coleman ([email protected])

[1] The Discrimination Complaint (“Complaint”) filed with the Secretary’s Mine Safety and Health Administration by the Complainant is dated October 31, 2023, thus well within 60 days of the Complainant’s October 30 termination of employment. See 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(2).

[2]
Section 105(c)(3) of the Act directs the Secretary to notify a complainant
whether a section 105(c) violation occurred within 90 days of the filing of a
complaint. 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(3).